T: Sweet, but not nearly as thick and cloying as the nose led me to believe. Reminds me of a watered down cola. I suspect that I’m primarily tasting birch syrup but I’m not very familiar with it so I can’t say for sure.

M: Surprisingly thin and watery. Only slightly fizzy like a soda that's been sitting out for several hours. A bit dry on the finish.

O: Not anything traditionally beer like but I’m glad I got to try it. I’ll pick up a birch beer sometime to see how it compares.

Pours out a ruddy, cloudy brown, almost like Supplication in a way. Smell was all kind of fruit berry like concoction and seemingly was teeming with alcohol.

Taste, oh god, I couldn't take this. I wanted to expand my horizons, was drinking it with the Russian girlfriend, wanted to make a decent effort to like/try it, but could not finish it, couldn't even come close. Nearly gag inducing, cloying and sweet, like pureed berries, molasses and castor oil.

A- This brew pours a warm dense brown body that is crystal clear with a thin tan foam on top that last for the first two sips. There is a some big bubbles of carbonation that glide to the surface.

S- This beer has a dark rye bread crust smell with a faint black pepper note and a licorice quality to the finish.

T- The smooth slightly cherry note of sweet vinegar is soft with an oak sherry hint (without the alcohol heat) and a rye bread soaked in water flavor. The finish has a dry barley and malted grain flavor that is more dry than sweet.

M- This beer has a light mouthfeel with a watery texture to it.

D- I like this beer with some qualities that make it almost like a cross between a wild ale and a dry cola. Interesting flavor and not sugary sweet like pop.

Ochakovo Kvass pours a very dark mahogany brown with clear russet highlights beneath a creamy head of fairly dark tan. The head dwindles rather quickly, as is usual; but it leaves some nice sheets and splashes of lace behind, and even the occasional ring.

In the nose it expresses molasses, maple, sweet caramel and a buttery nuttiness. Some dark fruitiness is present as well, but it's not really distinct (mainly soft raisin).

The flavor is more fruity than the nose suggests, and it's quite prune-like up front, and very fig-like in the end. Of course the maltiness is always there with its caramel,molasses, and nutty maltiness. It's smooth compared with many examples, and it doesn't have an abrupt switch into sticky sweetness, or any harsh astringency in the finish. Nor is it overtly sticky with lingering malt sugars.

Kvass is a style I wasn't sure I'd ever encounter. I'm apprehensive about it, but here goes. The look of it can summarily be described as crimson cola. A forceful pour revealed very little carbonation and yielded absolutely no head. There's nothing to discuss concerning retention and lacing.

A strong mix of rye, barley, and grain scents greets the nose first. They're followed by a sweet caramel and molasses scent. Dark fruit is prominent. More accurately, prune is prominent. It has some herbal and spicy qualities. None stand out individually. But, they are collectively noted. There's nothing about it that smells overtly good. Frankly, it's not reminiscent of any beer I've encountered. Not very impressive.

The flavor is better than the smell, but it's very average. Sweet berries and sugar are prominent initially and are followed by a spicy rye flavor. Barley and grain flavors are strong. At this point, Ochakovskiy Kvass strikes me as a rye/berry infused cola beverage. Perhaps that's the intent. A semi-tart dark fruit/prune flavor emerges. It doesn't gel with the other elements. It's more of a weird flavor than anything else. A distinct yeastiness is pervasive. It has a sweet and yeasty finish. It grew me on a bit as it went down, but I can't say that I like it.

It's very thin and has a watered down feel. Carbonation is very light and provides no crisp bite at all. It's not good, but it's not a total disaster in terms of feel. It really doesn't have any positives for drinkability. The flavor is unique, if not exotic, and is altogether not very good. I'll finish the can, but it's work.

Kvass is nothing short of a very interesting beverage. I'm not sure I'd characterize it as beer. But, perhaps it's very much considered beer in Eastern Europe. For me, the spicy rye and dark fruit flavors produce a very unappealing flavor. I don't care for it at all, but would be interested to try others for comparative purposes. This one has a very average flavor and is an overall below average experience.

As far as comparing extremely difficult styles to obtain that happen to be nothing alike, it is much more unique and exotic than Happoshu. I can't even remotely compare Kvass to any "beer" I've tried before. Happoshu was a different story. Despite its underwhelmingness, it is recommended simply for the experience.

500ml can thanks to woodychandler, a guy who really likes it in the can (in a good way)! Woody, the generous guy he is, just sent this to me for no reason with no prior trades before this, so cheers to him as I tick this style of beer for the first time. This is also my first Russia tick I believe, so I'm happy to be drinking this.

Pours a clear medium reddish-brown color with an off-white head that fades to a ring.

Smells like malt extract more than anything else. Maybe some syrup too.

The flavor is like a blend of southern sweet tea and Aunt Jemima syrup. Weird to say the least. Very sweet and somewhat bready.

Medium-light bodied and a little syrupy.

I can't say much about how this is for the kvass style, but it's not very good overall. Tastes like (kv)ass.

Many thanks to woodychandler for introducing me to the world of Kvass. Poured from a 17.6? oz. can. Has a very dark brown color with a 1/2 inch head. Smell is of molassesand herbs, some malts. Taste is the same, some molassess, herbs and spices, not nearly as sweet as the Kvass I reviewed the other night. Feels syrupy in the mouth and overall while this was not bad, it is not something I would enjoy on a regular basis.

Very dark tawny brown. Initial fizz and plop bubbles that rapidly fade down into a ring, then nothing a couple minutes later. It looks alot like cola. Trace carbonation can be seen around the edges of the glass. Not much aroma at all, faintly sweet like an herbal Ricola candy as it warms.

Tart and sweet flavor, a unique mix, but fairly simple. Faint earthy malt flavor towards the end into the aftertaste. The mild tartness lends itself to an indistinct berry flavor, that fades away fast. Some molasses/carob and raisin sweetness also. Toward the end it reminds me of a spiced tea soda. Lightly carbonated and thin bodied. The glass was gone fairly quickly, and I enjoyed it's mildly tart, bready flavors.

This was definitely a departure from the craft beer norm, but I found it pretty interesting, and worth seeking out.

Located at Three Sisters Delicatessen in Chicago. "Hello, do you sell Kvass?" "What?" "Kh-wahs...in bottles?""No, this is a Russian store." Whadda ya know...they did have some ;)

16 oz can poured into an imperial pint. 24/04/10 printed on the bottom. No info.

Thanks to emerge077 for getting me this strange can of brew for our in-person trade!

A - Kvass pours much darker than I expected, looking like a Munich dunkel with it's totally clear dark ruby brown color. Tan head foams up but lowers right after, settling to a thin ring. The can has a cool design and save for the sticker with Russian-translated Nutrition Facts (30 KKal Calories -Sounds low!) "True kvass made of true ingredients" is the only English on it.

S - Hmm, I can easily say that I've never smelled beer like this before. Molasses is nice but followed by a helping of soy sauce and a dash of Worcestershire sauce as well. A pinch of brown sugar sweetens it up but it remains completely unique. No hop presence, maybe some rye, and the malt is pretty absent here too. Completely unappealing, but I'm trying to stay objective.

T - Holy shit...what IS this? Toasted amber malts are near indistinct behind strong cooking spice flavor. The soy is back almost with Worcestershire which disappears for a second to allow for a totally odd molasses and brown sugar sweetness to creep up. That's then washed away by a lingering Worcestershire-flavored finish. Ugh.

M - Initially crisp and clean with a dry kick that last throughout, sweetness overthrows momentarily changing it up. Light-medium-bodied and fairly crisp, Kvass finishes with a little carbonation spritz.

D - While I love trying new beer, this is one style I don't think I'll ever be revisiting. I've been taking small sip to experience it but now that my review is done, so is my experience with the beer. It's not something I ever want to have again, or finish for that matter, but I can't just bashing a beer I don't like personally based on inexperience with the style. Odd certainly, but it doesn't seem off in any way.

Poured from the can into a nonic pint glass. Much thanks to Woodychandler.

A simple dark brown walnut body, lots of microscopic pin head sized cola bubbles EVERYWHERE on the glass. A very uniform looking head off the pour, tan light honey color much like other Kvass.

Nose is very small and muted. Typical raisin, simple hiding grain, not as sweet smelling, hard to pick out senses.

Taste is kind of odd but with sweet finish, sugars, a little bit of molasses and bread action on this, but real tiny. Mouthfeel is somewhere between light flattened cola but no syrupy qualities. It's also kind of buttery tasting as well.

Overall not bad, but not really interesting or exciting, but it is drinkable.

Well i finally get to cross another style off the list, but this was a painful one to do. This may have been the owrst tasting beer i have ever run across. Served cold and poured into a pint glass, this one was consumed on 01/09/2009.

Decent enough pour, with a rich brown color and a nice tan color layer of foam on top that hung around for several minutes. As it settled some light lacing and reddish tones around the sides became visible.

The aroma was bad. Like the hay from a horse stall. Small hint of rye, but this deep, nasty farm crap smell coming off of it. Te flavor though really made me gag. I have never had anything actually taste this badly before. Like some kind of demented soda. You know that smell when you visit a petting zoo, I swear that was the taste here. Everything was off, and just an absolute drain pour after the second sip.

Not a redeeming quality here except for the first pour. I am not sure if this is the beer, or the style or what, but this was totally undrinkable and I would not ever want to come across this again.

A + S + T: Cola-like is a descriptive word that can be used across the field of appearance, smell, and taste. The appearance has a ruby red highlight in it that gives it a little bit of a different look. There's a watery cola taste to it, with the added bit of breadiness. Aroma is where the most rye stands out... it gives some hope of what may come, but it never happens, unfortunately.

M + D: A good carbonation, but a weaker body... a little watery, even. Drinkability is fine in the sense of how easy it is to drink, due to lack of alcohol content. It's not a very pleasant representation of the style, though.

A: The beer is clear dark reddish brown in color and has a light amount of visible carbonation. It poured with a finger high tan head that never completely faded away.S: There are very sweet aromas of malt extract in the nose with notes of caramel, prunes and rye bread.T: The overall taste is very sweet and tastes more like a mixture of beer, bread and soda with some notes of molasses. The sweetness is rather cloying.M: It feels light bodied and somewhat thin and watery on the palate with a light to moderate amount of carbonation.O: With all of the sweetness, drinking this beer definitely takes some getting used to, although it does taste a little better as the beer warms up.

Pours the color of root beer - a few heady bubbles up top but that's it. There's a bit of carbonation in there - it moves slowly through the syrupy, viscous mass.

I forget what that Goya Malta stuff smells like, but this is at least a distant cousin. I get prunes, molasses and some steamy, proofing or just-in-the-oven bread dough...provides a little warmth. Even a little raisin in there.

Well, that isn't quite what I expected. It's clammy and watery but the taste has the molasses, the sarsparilla...but there are roasted peanuts in there, too? And it all tastes like a washing machine smells in a middle of a load of whites - warm and stewy with a little fabric softener and bleach.

This washing machine/fabric softener deal is pretty pervasive on the palate. The taste and its characteristics take a back seat to this laundromat deal. Faint syrupy boiled dark fruits and heavy molasses. Still, the Maytag thing persists.

I'm glad I spent the 3 bucks at the Russian grocery store to try what's regarded as a true example of this style. Maybe it's flatter than it should be. Maybe I could use it as a reduction in some weird sauce. Maybe it could go with vanilla ice cream as a float? Naaahhh...maybe I'll just pour the whole deal down the drain and chalk it up to experience.

Pours a light brown with no head. The aroma is very sweet and wood-like. Quite odd and off-putting. The flavor is almost worse....damn near made me gag. Just a weird fake cherry sweetness that is so cloying it is disgusting. Honestly, I can't give any more detail because I couldn't stomach another sip or smell.

T: The taste starts out very sweet with flavors of dark fruit and honey. Then breadiness comes in from a hearty but not too heavy malt character, wheat, grain and rye. The after-taste is likewise quite sweet.